This is amazing

Eh I wouldn’t be so sure. This is the last year of Russell’s deal with Williams. If Toto doesn’t move him into the top team or at least find a seat with Mclaren/Aston (which seems unlikely given their current lineups, but it’s F1 so who knows) there’s a good chance he jumps ship to another manufacturer. He’s too good…

Interesting - thanks for the info. I knew there were relatively few players in that industry but I didn’t realize it was to that extent.

If that’s how seriously they want to require this, fine. You may end up disqualifying some good suppliers in the process. Those that make something that can be easily produced by another source - no big deal. But I imagine there’s a few in their supply chain that can’t be so easily swapped out without reduced…

Yes - per Torch’s article the other day, automotive applications only account for about 10% of their business.

There is a big wrinkle in this - it requires all their suppliers to disclose everything about their supply chain as well. I can’t imagine many companies outside of those completely beholden to the automotive industry to sign up for this. In many cases that is closely guarded information, especially for specialty…

I fully expected some weird photoshop of an ID4 with beef jerky in the front or something. Imagine my surprise when it’s a real photo of actually useful, not insane idea.

That’s almost exactly what I did - drove one as a rental in Hawaii. It was, as others have mentioned, just meh. I wouldn’t buy one personally, but for the sort of people that like the old sebring convertibles it’s the same idea. Comfy, suprisingly quiet cruiser that even had a power top that could be operated on the…

Agreed. I don’t much care about this thing specifically, but I like what it might mean for future GM EVs. If they can get 350 miles out of this behemoth on huge off road tires then I’m excited to see what they can do with a smaller form factor with street rubber.

Running a taxi service isn’t their long term goal. Eventually they’ll be selling this tech to carmakers (I think they’re already partnered with FCA). That’s where they’ll make the real $$. The taxi service is just a way to get real world testing data.

I wonder how up to date Honda’s mailing list is for these recalls. We must have received >10 notices from them for my wife’s CR-V that was totaled ~4 years ago. I’ve sent it back to them saying it’s no longer our vehicle and even called them to get them to update their records. And yet we still get the notices.

Agreed, it’s phenomenal what SpaceX has done. They’re in a similar position to Tesla though - way out ahead for the moment, but there are a lot of competitors trying to catch up. Not only the big legacy guys but startups like Blue Origin. BO specifically seem to be just as ambitious and have access to all the cash…

Yes, but most people don’t buy for their 90% use case. They buy for that edge case. That’s why someone with 1-2 kids buys a 3-row SUV, or they have a truck that see stuff in the bed a few times a year. I’m not saying it’s good or bad, it’s just how consumers buy cars right now. If EVs are really going to take over …

Ah didn’t know that about the others, thanks. That puts it in perspective.

I was thinking in comparison to Tesla’s superchargers, which are 150-250 kW. I was hoping VW would at least match those.

One note not mentioned - max charging rate is only 125 kW, or “5 to 80 percent in about 38 minutes.” Is that enough? I thought one of the benefits of VW/Porche/etc. EV tech is their 800V architecture and the quick recharge times it offers. The combo of only 250 miles and not particularly fast charging kinda rules this…

I mean, why do you need a watch to tell you how stressed you are? I feel like I know when I’m stressed out.

I’m curious what the business arrangement looks like for these kinds of deals. Who fronts the cash for installing the chargers and associated site upgrades? Do they split the revenue from the charging fees, or does Love’s just rely on the extra revenue from people who now have time to kill and will likely buy snacks?

The want is incredibly strong with this one. I just missed out on getting a TourX, and I really loved my old A4 (my wife still thinks I’m odd for lusting after old A4 wagons). This seems like it would be my perfect car.

I have that car. Underwhelming is a very good way to put it. Seemed like a great option at the time, but after driving it for 3 yrs I'm ready to be rid of it.